Westerly View off the bow of the Navigator in the Bradshaw Sound; Fiordland, NZ

January 4th, 2012: Fiordland, a world heritage site, was sculpted by
glaciers during the last glacial Ice Age in New Zealand, approximately
20,000 years ago. The glaciers formed steep U-shaped valleys that have
thus been flooded with both salt and fresh water. Parts of the fiords
have depths exceeding 440m indicative of the glacial ice penetrating
below sea level. The rocks that constitute the mountains and islands
in Fiordland are primarily granite and gneiss which was resistant to
erosion thus maintaining the steep peaks. (Citation: www.doc.govt.nz/conservation/land-and-freshwater/land/geo...) Visible in this image is a a scar down the side of one of the
mountains. This scar is likely caused by a 'tree avalanche'. As the
rocks are highly resistant to erosion and incredibly steep there is
very little soil formation. Instead the trees and other plants in the
area grow on Sphagnum mosses which can retain up to 20 times their dry
weight in water. This provides the basis for tree growth however
sometimes the weight of the trees can rip the mosses off the rock
walls and avalanches of trees occur, scarring the faces of the fiord
mountains.